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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Freelancers sent forward intercepted the Landwehr Brigade stationed near the town of Strutzenheim. They rode back on the main road to Mecklenheim, then sent a company through the woods to the Brigade and von Hohenspitz to let them know about the possible threat.

The General was pondering if he could just rush on Mecklenheim without a warning or let them know the war is official. Finally he decided to send orders back to the Freelance Companies with another courier: in which they were ordered to block the road between Strutzenheim and Mecklenheim as they were, but bring word of ultimatum under a white flag to the Flossian force stationed westwards.

The next day, von Hohenspitz would take Mecklenheim, a first battle in a long row for the Principality. He decided to pay the soldiers before battle, increasing morale further more.

At the Grühne Bridge north of Spülge

Dietrich von Spülge's mind, perhaps inspired by the fear of loss of his estate, produced a brilliant idea. He knew too well that the crossing army would be bottlenecked by the Flossian cavalry occupying the left shore of the river, so he ordered his pioneers to destroy the bridge and marched along the shore to the other bridge between Flögesholm and Willecheny. The work would make the Flossians believe it still was a full force stationed at the Spülge bridge, however, it would still take a full day to blow that one up, and the choice of crossing, being narrower, to let the whole brigade pass. This also gave the advantage to von Spülge to march on the enemy in battle order.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

The messenger reached the Störkburg brigade in the morning. Von Hohenspitz read the Princeps' letter, then questioned the Lieutenant handling it to him. Without any explanation, he gave the marching order. 'Either tell them what's coming and make them upset, or don't tell them and make them upset', he muttered. 'At least I can spare myself some riding.' Von Hohenspitz was known to be lazy at the beginning of long marches. This would mean bad for the soldiers' feet ... and the Flossians.
The brigade departed at noon and marched until late evening where they bivouacked themselves and had something to eat. A messenger was sent forward to inform the Freelancers they were free to go. Before midnight, the companies rode into the woods to cross the border west of the Flossian fortifications blocking the entrance of the valley.

Dietrich von Spülge and the 2nd Brigade met each other the same day and preparations began to cross the Grühne bridge on the next.

Lady Ingetora left Böhnstadt towards the north, hoping to reach the Court of Varangia in two weeks.